Device-specific Metrics

Device-specific metrics are covered here.

Notes:

• For general information about metrics in Kentik, see About Metrics.

• Filter and group-by dimensions are covered in Dimensions Reference (see Per-flow Metrics).

• Metrics are used for Kentik portal query settings and the Query API.

About Device-specific Metrics

Device-specific metrics, generated and stored in KDE for specific physical or virtual devices, are stored in Kentik using Universal Data Records (UDR) for flexible data allocation to the columns of the Kentik Data Engine.

Note: UDR metrics have no persistent KDE columns.

Cisco ASA Metrics

These metrics represent traffic volume of flow through Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA), which can be standalone appliances, blades, or virtual appliances. ASA uses bidirectional flow records in which the "initiator" (source) initiating a request and the "responder" (destination) replying.

Notes:

• These KDE flow fields store a sum for the flow, used to derive the Average, 95th Percentile, and Max numbers returned from queries.

• For more context on these dimensions, see the Cisco document ASA NetFlow Implementation Guide.

Cisco Meraki Metrics

Like Cisco ASA, Cisco Meraki uses bidirectional flow records. Kentik's Meraki-specific UDR fields, listed below, store the volume of the flow's "responder" (destination) traffic, whose direction is from the Meraki firewall back to the "initiator" (source) of a request. These fields correspond to the OUT_BYTES and OUT_PKTS data fields in Meraki's NetFlow Version 9 Templates.

Notes:

• These KDE flow fields store a sum for the flow, which is used to derive the Average, 95th Percentile, and Max numbers that return from queries (e.g. the columns of the tables returned in Data Explorer).

• The volume from the initiator to the responder is stored in the standard KDE metrics fields in_bytes and in_packets (see General Metrics).

Cisco Zone-based Firewall

These metrics represent traffic volume of flow through Zone-based Firewalls (ZFW) on Cisco IOS devices. ZFW uses bidirectional flow records in which the "initiator" (source) is the entity that initiates a request and the "responder" (destination) is the entity that replies with a response.

Notes:

• These KDE flow fields store a sum for the flow, which is used to derive the Average, 95th Percentile, and Max numbers that return from queries (e.g. the columns of the tables returned in Data Explorer).

• For more context on these dimensions, see the Cisco document Zone-based Policy Firewall Guide.

Silver Peak Metrics

These metrics represent App Performance Information elements available from Silver Peak appliances running VXOA software (version 8.21 or higher), which is described in this Silver Peak white paper.

© 2014-25 Kentik